Auctions for items may be held in many different ways. Bidders may be physically present at one location or may be dispersed geographically. Bids may be submitted during a specified time in advance of the auction. Bidders may submit spoken bids, written bids or electronic bids, for example over a computer or other communications network. Using such a network, an auction may be performed entirely online. In an online auction, a bidder may place bids manually or may use a proxy bidder, which places bids automatically on behalf of the bidder. An example of an online auction with a proxy bidder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,896 to Fisher et al.
Using a conventional proxy bidder, a bidder in an online auction specifies how bids should be placed. Typically, a proxy bidder determines a bid amount and places a bid for the bidder instantly after the proxy bidder detects that the previous bid is surpassed. For example, a proxy bidder may use a maximum desired amount for the item and an increment to add to a previously placed bid. The proxy bidder places bids in the smallest increment needed to exceed the previous bid, until reaching the maximum amount specified by the bidder. In summary, if an auction is performed with proxy bidders, bidding occurs unnaturally, quickly and early.